Chemical sensors or biosensors are devices that are able to retain at least temporarily a chemical or biological substance to detect and/or to quantify as for example the measure or detection of a gas (measurement of pollution, chemical reagents, etc.), the detection of an active principle (drug, herbicide, etc.), the detection of human or animal substances (cells, proteins, etc.), viruses, etc.
Biosensors and the currently available stationary phases separated based on affinity often use biomacromolecules or biological macromolecules as specific recognition elements, particularly antibodies, enzymes or nucleic acids. Said biomacromolecules have a weak chemical and physical stability, in particular to organic solvents, acid and bases and high temperatures. The biomacromolecules are expensive, difficult to obtain and difficult to integrate into industrial manufacturing processes. In this context, the use of polymers and/or copolymers having one or several types of molecular imprint(s) (MIP) establishes itself as an alternative to these biomacromolecules. They are biomimetic material which reproduces the molecular recognition capability observed in certain biological macromolecules [1].
Polymers having one or several types of molecular imprint(s) (MIP) already exist. However, their practical usage is inhibited by an over complex implementation in the optimal form for the related application.
The synthesis of polymers through radical polymerization using relatively weak concentrations of initiator and monomers, as in the case of the initiator immobilized on a solid support [2] or in a diluted solution for the synthesis of microgels and nanogels [3] has already been described. The obtained polymer usually has a “fractal” shape that is not sufficiently dense for its adaptation to the synthesis of the MIP [4].
For the synthesis of MIP polymers in the form of microgels, it has been proposed to overcome this drawback, first by using a high concentration of reagents to dilute the solution just before the macro-gel process in order to obtain dense microgels [5]. Yet, this approach is tricky and difficult to implement especially in an industrial context, due to the fact that a scale-up seems difficult to achieve in a reproducible manner.
Hence, there exists a real need for a method for preparing molecularly imprinted polymer(s) (MIP) to overcome these faults, drawbacks and obstacles of the prior art.
Particularly, there exists a real need for a method that is reproducible, industrially achievable, which makes it possible to prepare molecularly imprinted polymer(s) (MIP) in a manner that is dense and localized, on a micro or nanometric scale, which further may allow for a monitoring of the size, morphology and shape of the obtained polymers (MIP).